Jerald Fields led the Bucs in their quarterfinal win at the SoCon Tournament.

Thursday, March 06, 2003

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Tim Smith (Newport News, Va.) scored 23 points and Jerald Fields (Gainesville, Fla.) added 19 to lead East Tennessee State to an 80-75 win over Wofford in the quarterfinals of the 2003 Mountain Dew Southern Conference Basketball Championships at the North Charleston Coliseum.
The first half saw four ties and nine lead changes as the two teams battled to a 33-33 tie. Mike Lenzly scored nine points in the first half for Wofford (14-15). Smith had eight points in the first half for East Tennessee State (18-10).
Wofford went up 35-33 early in the second half on a basket by Adrien Borders, who finished with a career-high 20 points to lead the Terriers in scoring. Wofford extended its lead to 37-33 on a pair of free throws by Grant Sterley with 18:25 to play in the game. The Terriers saw their last lead of the game at 39-38 following a basket by guard Lee Nixon with 16:38 to play in the half.
From that point, East Tennessee State went on a 17-5 run over the next four and one-half minutes to take a 55-44 lead with 11:55 left to play. Smith had eight points during the run, including a pair of three-point field goals. Fields added five points.
The Terriers whittled their deficit down to two at 66-64 at the 5:34 mark following a free throw by Borders. Wofford would also trail by two on two other occasions but could never get any closer.
Holding on to a 75-73 lead with less than a minute to play, the Bucs converted five of six free throw attempts in the final minute. Wofford missed on a pair of three-point field goal attempts in the final 15 seconds.
Wofford's David Eaton left the game late in the first half when he had three teeth jarred loose in a collision at the free throw line.
The Bucs advance to the semifinals for the first time since 1995.
East Tennessee State will next play South Division champion College of Charleston on Friday at 6 p.m. The game will be televised live on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast and locally on UPN, and also carried as part of ESPN's Full Court Package.